No Longer There
by Domenic
Summary: When an old enemy of J'onn's returns, more of his past is explored, but at the cost of his life and sanity?... Set after "Starcrossed" and turns AU. WARNING: ON HIATUS
1. Prologue

Author's Notes: This story is set in between "Starcrossed" and "Initiation." This fanfic is in continuity with my other stories "Queen of Hearts" and "Half For You, Half For Me." I suppose for complete understanding of this tale you'd have to read those stories of mine in that order before this one. I hope you enjoy this story and please leave a review.

Disclaimer: Justice League doesn't belong to me.

No Longer There

Prologue

He tosses and turns at night, in the Manor by the sea. Nightmares of blood and tears and screaming and crying haunt Him into the night, tearing at Him, torturing Him. No one comes though, no one; He never tells anyone, no one has ever noticed, except Her. But She is gone now, and He left alone to fend against the nightmares, the ghosts. Ghosts of Black and White Thieves, Vanished Race, Young Children and Lover, Manhunter Mother and Scientist Father, and Shattered Twin Brother. And fire of course. So much fire, so much burning, so many ashes and embers smelling of death.

Now a brand new ghost plagues Him, and its Her, the one that had once comforted him after the ghosts' tortures. How ironic that She who had helped Him before, now tortures Him. She is a ghost of emerald eyes and silver wings and crimson hair, and oh so tender skin. Only now does He realize that She is like the flame, filled with scorching, fiery spirit, embers and ashes coated on Her wings of silky feathers. She is a clever Ghost, just like the others, using His own desire for Her against Him, using it to torture Him. He wants Her so bad, misses Her so much, his Fallen Angel. His Phoenix.

_"Shayera."_

_Batman freezes as he hears her name as he passes J'onn's temporary room. After a few seconds, he continues toward his cave, a knowing frown set onto his face._

Author's Ending Notes: Reading between the lines, this story has an HG/MM flavor to it.


	2. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: This story is set in between "Starcrossed" and "Initiation." This fanfic is in continuity with my other stories "Queen of Hearts" and "Half For You, Half For Me." I suppose for complete understanding of this tale you'd have to read those stories of mine in that order. I hope you enjoy this story and please leave a review.

Disclaimer: Justice League doesn't belong to me.

No Longer There

Chapter 1

The Martian should have realized that always, the Dark Knight has known. Both the nightmares and the Hawk, he acknowledges; nothing escapes the Dark Knight. Thinking it best in everyone's interests and a sacredness to privacy, he stayed out of it, but truly, he was just afraid, but only of the nightmares. The crying, the screaming, the sorrow, the pain, all echoing his own, but surpassing it in volume and scope. So yes, he was afraid. Too frightened to lend a hand, to show caring, any nurturing; the Dark Knight must preserve his coldness, his detachment, his power, and he must work harder and harder to do it in such company, especially since he has already faltered one too many times.

Let the Princess hold him too many times, her hands just above his waist as she flew him about the sky, the glorious feel of wind rushing past his face. Played too many chess games with the Hawk over competitive smirks and eyes glowing with laughter. Too many friendly rivalries with the Farm Boy, excessive private insider jokes shared between them when no one was looking. Shared too many cups of iced mocha and coffee with the Soldier and the Kid while secretly watching the elegant and pulsating beauty of the Girls, the Hawk and the Princess. Worked together too many times with the Martian, too many understandings between them, too many knowing looks shared, too many shared emotions, shared agony, shared grief, shared anger...

_J'onn awakes, and slips out, unable to sleep in Batman's Mansion, unwilling to face his nightmares a second longer. He swiftly climbs down the rocks onto the beach, leaving behind footprints as he walks upon the sand. He looks out into the sea, pinpointing the spot where he saw Shayera fly away from the Manor's windows last week, leaving all behind._


	3. Chapter 2

Author's Notes: This story is set after "Starcrossed" and turns AU. This fanfic is in continuity with my other stories "Queen of Hearts" and "Half For You, Half For Me." I suppose for complete understanding of this tale you'd have to read those stories of mine in that order. I hope you enjoy this story and please leave a review.

Disclaimer: Justice League doesn't belong to me.

No Longer There

Chapter 2

_Still it is dark, the sky a dark blanket of bluish-black with thousands of stars dotting its surface, and J'onn gazes at them, trying to imitate their peacefulness. The screams inside his mind have finally died down in his head, replaced by the gentle crashing of the waves upon the beach. The Martian is tempted to slip back into his natural form without the boots so that he could savor the feel of the sand's grains between his toes, pretend that he was back on Mars..._

_But it is a foolish thought, one to be easily crushed, and so it is done. J'onn hadn't even been able to bring himself to take the Javelin-when it still existed-on a trip to Mars, so how could he possibly pretend?… 5 years away from Mars, the Martian could hardly believe he had survived through it. A nagging voice at the back of his head whispered he shouldn't have been so surprised, he had survived through the damn Imperium's war... _

_Of course, the first couple of years on Earth were rough for J'onn, not one with a good taste for imprisonment. At the time, memories of past prisons conducted by the Invaders had rushed into his head as the humans stuck needles into his skin... The humans were not as forceful as the Invaders, their methods lacking the same torturous effects, but they were still the same; they were simply weaker, but no less scarring for him. Scarring in more ways than one, the Martian gained a healthy coldness toward all humanity, making the necessary exceptions, but still…he would protect them, of course, but while doing so with distaste most of the time. And then the Invaders finally made their move..._

_Fortunately for him, after the second Invasion the next 3 years on Earth for J'onn were better: he had a family again. Although for his family, if they judged based on his surface emotions alone, they wouldn't have believed that for J'onn those three years were the best ones he had been through in a long time. Yes, they were punctuated by the nightmares at night and the suffocating fears of losing another family, and of course human prejudices, but for the most part the Martian had enjoyed his years on Earth: they were so much better than the wartime years after his family's death, better than the years of isolation after the Invaders' state of suspended animation..._

_J'onn comes to a complete stop, his musings interrupted by a familiar shadow. A winged shadow. Slowly, his heart hammering against his chest, he traces the shadow to its origin: Shayera, standing on the stretch of beach ahead of him, staring at the ocean with emotionless eyes. Impossibility and possibility raged against each other in his mind, fighting over whether or not Shayera could really be here or not. J'onn would like to believe, and takes a few steps forward before stopping, uncertainty gripping him; the Thanagarian hasn't moved an inch. The Martian decides to end the debate with his telepathy, beginning to edge closer to her mind; thanks to his final encounter with Kragger, Thanagarian minds were accessible to him. _

_J'onn's mind stretches forward, and to his surprise gains easy access to his target, but a chill runs down his spine as an eerie familiarity twists itself around his heart, almost crushing it; this wasn't Shayera. Yes, that much was clear that this was an imposter, but the familiarity…it couldn't be him, it just couldn't, not him-_

_"Why not little brother," asks the Thanagarian imposter innocently in a deepening masculine voice, clearly reading the Martian's mind. The imposter's skin stretches, turning green, his bones crackling as they grow taller and longer, emerald eyes turning into orbs of soft reddish-orange rimmed by black, crimson hair and feather wings disappearing. Nausea swells in J'onn's stomach as he continues to watch the imposter's transformation into his true form, a form that brings memories crashing onto the Martian, burying him. It can't be him, it can't be him... The imposter's dressed now, garbed in black with large, gray chains encircling his body in an odd fashion, and his transformation is complete. The imposter's appearance is just like his, the only difference being the clothes. J'onn feels as if he's looking into a mirror, and he's felt that before, but that was so long ago..._

_"It has been a long time, hasn't it," says the imposter, agreeing with the thought he had read from J'onn's mind, who manages to hoarsely whisper "Ma'alefa'ak" before the one who owned that name, the imposter, finally pounces oh him, fingers sharpening into claws, fangs sprouting forth._


	4. Chapter 3

Author's Notes: This story is set after "Starcrossed" and turns AU. This fanfic is in continuity with my other stories "Queen of Hearts" and "Half For You, Half For Me." I suppose for complete understanding of this tale you'd have to read those stories of mine in that order. I hope you enjoy this story and please leave a review.

Disclaimer: Justice League doesn't belong to me.

No Longer There

Chapter 3

_J'onn's too shocked to fight, to defend himself against Ma'alefa'ak, and his attacker spares no mercy, taking full advantage of this weakness. Ma'alefa'ak slashes at him, his claws raking purple streams of blood into green skin, tearing the cape, his teeth slamming down onto his arm, puncturing it and releasing more blood, all the while a mad gleam shining in his eyes, turning it a shade of crimson different from J'onn's reddish-orange. Instinct finally overcomes surprise, and J'onn lowers his density, phasing away from his enemy, but fire suddenly flares behind him, and he stops, unknowingly returning back to his solid form. Foolishly, he focuses on the dancing flame, his fear getting the better of him, allowing Ma'alefa'ak to swiftly change into a serpent, then slam J'onn into the sand. _

_Picking himself up, grains of sand clinging to his face, blood dripping, J'onn pauses once a ring of fire sprouts around him, its wall of flames stretching so high up he could not see the sky. Fear takes him again; the Martian starts to breathe heavily, his eyes darting around, wondering where the Hell this fire was coming from._

_"Me, where else? You can't have possibly forgotten J'onn," spoke Ma'alefa'ak mockingly as the flames recede, slinking back to its master, absorbed by his serpentine tail. With the fire gone, J'onn stands up, grasping his punctured arm, trying to stop the falling blood._

_"How can you be alive," J'onn asks in little more than a whisper, for the moment ignoring his enemy's capability of conjuring flame._

_"Tell you later," promises Ma'alefa'ak casually as he swiftly lowers his density to invisibility, catching his opponent off guard before quickly reappearing behind him, wrapping J'onn up in the thick coils of his tail. "Maybe when you're lying almost dead on the floor," he says as he begins squeezing J'onn, summoning up flame to trace around his coils just to see his enemy squirm as he tries to draw in breath through clenched teeth. "Or even better yet, when I give you Shayera's still-beating heart." J'onn's eyes snap open to attention, turning crimson just like Ma'alefa'ak's, a cold look in them._

_"Hell, it would be perfect if I gave you all of their still-beating hearts: Bruce Wayne's, Clark Kent's, Wally West's, John Stewart's, Princess Diana's. That'd be nice, wouldn't it little brother?" With an animalistic roar, J'onn is transformed into a serpent paralleling Ma'alefa'ak, and he breaks free while simultaneously tearing into his ex-captor's throat. J'onn is shocked to find no familiar taste of blood oozing around his fangs, and he soon feels claws raking into his body once more; obviously, his opponent had grown limbs. But how could he not feel any blood from his enemy when he bit him? J'onn still tries to keep his fangs sunk into Ma'alefa'ak nonetheless for as long as possible, but his enemy eventually shakes him off, blasting a pillar of fire into him, throwing him back, but he remains standing._

"_Finally, you're fighting back. Too bad you can only do it when you're angry," replies Ma'alefa'ak before charging toward J'onn, who is charging as well. With a loud cracking noise, they slam into each other, biting and tearing and slashing, purple blood flying everywhere staining the once pure white sands of the beach._

He sees Ma'al, hears Ma'al, smells Ma'al, tastes Ma'al's blood, touches it, but He still can't believe it is Ma'al, His Shattered Twin Brother. He can hear Ma'al call Him little brother, and even after all these centuries, He still feels that juvenile indigence flare within His heart; Ma'al was only born 5 seconds ahead of Him, he wasn't that older than Himself.

He needs to focus on the fight, but his concentration is slipping. It takes all his energy just to keep his Head afloat above the sea of memories: little Ma'al playing with Him, big Ma'al and that ugly scar on his chest, little Ma'al setting up a prank with His help, big Ma'al holding Daddy's limp hand, little Ma'al sneaking out of bed with Him tagging along, big Ma'al hovering over Mommy's corpse...

Blood, blood, blood everywhere, and not a drop of it was Ma'al's. All of it His, He could feel it, the light-headedness in His head proving to be overwhelming, the breathes becoming harder and harder to take. But he can't give up, no, had to keep pushing forward-SNAP! He loses control of His head, His entire body, feels it slipping away from Him; doesn't even truly feel the sensation when He falls down to the ground, just hears the thundering slam.

"_Tsk, tsk, tsk, J'onn, you really should've paid more attention. And now look at you, gone and snapped your neck! Well, I did actually, and damn, it was enjoyable," mocks Ma'alefa'ak, back in his original chained form, kneeling down beside his brother's still body, no longer serpentine but back to his original state as well, his torn cape draped over him, purple blood pooling beneath him. J'onn can't feel Ma'alefa'ak's fingers stroke his broken neck, but he can see him do it, although it is difficult for him to focus his eyes. Hell, it's difficult to stay conscious._

_"Sorry to say little brother, I'm gonna have to leave you now. But don't worry, I'll be back soon to play, and maybe we'll invite your friends to join the fun," says Ma'alefa'ak in a voice that is close to giddiness as he edges his head closer so that he was face to face with J'onn on the sand. "By the way, just to let you know, I go mostly by the name 'Malefic' these days. Anyone not Martian says my birth name is too damn long and unpronounceable, so there you have it." Just as those last words filter through J'onn's mind, darkness comes to claim him..._


End file.
